North Battleford Crown Prosecutor Oryn Holm and defence lawyer Don Smith entered a joint submission to the court for a nine-month conditional sentence. Charges of discharging a firearm with intent to endanger life and assault of a police officer with a weapon were withdrawn. McAlpine and four others were charged after an incident on Onion Lake Cree Nation on Jan. 1, 2021. Holm told the court there was no evidence McAlpine in any way encouraged the flight from the police or shooting at the police, and she was in the vehicle when the incident happened but not a willing participant. He said her culpability comes from the knowledge that there were firearms in the vehicle.
North Battleford Crown prosecutor Oryn Holm told the court that on Jan. 31, 2021, Swiftwolfe and another man shot the door before kicking it open during a home invasion on Onion Lake Cree Nation. Swiftwolfe pointed a shotgun at one of the residents. The man was on the ground and while Swiftwolfe and his co-accused assaulted the man his co-accused said, “Where’s my money?” The man being assaulted was a hunter and recognized that the gun was a 410 shotgun, said Holm. When Onion Lake RCMP arrived they saw a hole in the back door from the shotgun blast and found blood in the house. At the time, Swiftwolfe was on a firearms prohibition.
“I was convinced that day it was only a matter of time until the accused’s SUV or bullets killed someone,” said RCMP Const. Jacob Isaac who was involved in the pursuit on Onion Lake Cree Nation Jan. 1, 2021. “This was a feeling very few will experience and was a heavy burden on all of us to accept that we had to potentially die trying to stop this out-of-control threat to society. “I can remember hearing the updates on the radio as we all pursued and I think to myself ‘how do we stop this before someone dies?’ As various scenarios ran through my head on how to stop them, very few had the likelihood of coming out uninjured or (not) killed,” said Const. Isaac. “I’m confident my co-workers had the same gut wrenching thoughts.”
Weeseekase was arrested on Jan. 1, 2021, after an incident where Onion Lake RCMP were shot at while pursuing a black SUV. His trial was set for Aug. 9 – 12 but won’t proceed after he pleaded guilty April 26 to two charges. The charges include, with intent to endanger the life of an RCMP officer did discharge a firearm at the officer, and driving a vehicle while being pursued by police and failing to stop. RCMP say they were pursuing a black SUV on Onion Lake Cree Nation when a firearm came out of one of the SUV’s windows and multiple shots were fired at the RCMP. No one was injured.
An Onion Lake Cree Nation man was charged with manslaughter for the death of 26-year-old Braeden Sparvier, also of Onion Lake. Earlier this year Twobears Bird, 22, was charged with accessory to . . .